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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

What's Up With Petula?

No, not that Petula, silly, this one: "Petula spcializes in plant procurement and wholesales to independent garden centers and horticural professionals. We believe in spreading the wonder of plants: experimenting with new ways to enjoy them and sharing our discoveries." Petula's plants ride on WEHOP (Western Horticultural Products) trucks. Both are plant brokers but while WEHOP is now focused on supplying growers and nurseries with liners, (trays of very young plants that are grown on before being offered for sale to the public) Petula brings larger, fully grown plants from the same growers in California (San Marcos, Monterey Bay, Four Winds Growers, The Good Earth, Euro American Propagators, Little Prince of Oregon, and Premier Color Nursery.)

On June 23, I had the opportunity to attend Petula' Test Garden 2015 Summer Kick Off. This year's test garden is located in a public plaza in Edmonds, and is stunning! The event took place from seven p.m. until sunset and there was free gelato! Here's some of what I saw:

Glowing in the evening sun were roses in sunset colors like this one, another beautiful orange, and a lovely yellow.

Walking by on the sidewalk, one might think that this was an exuberant municipal planting.

But if you slow down a bit to notice some of the plants, you'll see that there are unusual gems (for this area) in every bed like the fab. Gompherena 'Pink Zazzle' in this bed.

I love this one but haven't seen it in a lot of nurseries here yet.

Then again, I seldom look at annuals so maybe it's been there.

Lepisium cruciforme surrounded by fab foliage!

Teucrium chamaedrys 'Summer Sunshine'

Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor'

Although their goal is to be plant free (I know, crazy, right?) Petula brought a few plants...

Euphorbia 'Firesticks are very tempting but I already have some. Agaves vilmoriniana, "Baccarat", and 'Cornelius Variegata' all looked so good but already exist in my collection. Kicking myself for not getting another Cornelius as they are so gorgeous.

Nice Furcraea gigantea 'variegata' and lots of little succulents. The oh-so-silver Maireana sedifolia (Pearl Bluebush) in the middle came home with me!

Meanwhile, back at the garden. Leucadenedron 'Ebony' cavorting with petunias.

The warmth, the lovely evening and plantings like this might whisk you away to California for a while. (Much cheaper than plane tickets!)

Mangave 'Macho Mocha'

Agave americana Var. medio-picta 'Dwarf Alba' and Echeveria affinis.

Here's Maireana sedifolia again singing the blues with a chorus of sherbet-hued happy petunias.

Joined by another beautiful Leucadendron 'Ebony'

Echium candicans 'Star of Madeira' Can't wait to see the electric blue blooms!

Cynara scolymus 'Emerald' (Artichoke) Can you imagine how fab the purple bloom would look with the orange Cuphea 'Vermillionaire?'

Purple and white: a classic combination.

Phormium 'Sea Jade' is a lovely thing!

In addition to the Maireana Sedifolia, I came home with the following:

Turns out that Petula is the wholesaler bringing the tentacled pots to the PNW. Tonya had a few in her van which I couldn't resist. like this one and the Rhipsalis which will be planted soon although a crazy carniverous plant might make its way into this pot instead.

The Sansevieria cylindrica also came from the van and will be planted soon! I already had the matching purple tillandsia and the head.

I was given this Kalanchoe synsapala, the Walking Kalanchoe. Let's see if it grows legs!

It was starting to get darker outside, time to pack up the treasures and go home but first, a nice scoop of green apple gelato for the road! It was as delicious as the demonstration gardens which you can visit personally at Hazel Miller Plaza, 5th & Maple, downtown Edmonds. You can also follow the garden's progress on Petula's blog.

Thank you Petula and Tonya for this delightful evening, the beautiful demonstration garden, for dragging plants and tentacled planters along in the van, and for the delicious gelato!

43 comments:

Wow! Color! Color like I've never seen before in the PNW postings. I have most of this stuff in my yard except the annuals! Your photos make me appreciate it more. And these plants are placed where the public can admire them, something else I've rarely seen. All so wonderful. Brightens my day this post does! PS Petula Clark singing 'Downtown' was one of my favorite songs. Wonder how long it is going to stick around in my head now like a broken record?

Some of us in the PNW are crazy for some of the fab plants hardy in your region. We grow them in pots and drag them inside during the winter. Petula loves to have the public see their work, the city was happy to have them plant the plaza and the local garden club even showed up to help with the planting. Great for everyone! "Downtown" will be playing in your head for at least a week!

Boo, I'm sad that I didn't hear about this. Bummed that I missed it. I was just wondering where I could get a couple more Agave vilmoriniana for my Gravel Garden redo. There were definitely some cool plants there.

The picture of the Rose is a knockout!. I was turned on by Gompherena 'Pink Zazzle' when Les, from Tidewater mentioned it earlier this year, but I never saw it in any nursery. Once it blooms you can't miss it, it's such a sparkler. The tiny tentacle planter is too adorable; it could double as a soft-boiled egg holder!

I saw Gompherena 'Pink Zazzle' a couple of years ago at WEHOP's demonstration garden. It was supposed to be the "It" plant the next spring but I haven't seen it anywhere. Thank you for your hope. The Antibiotics worked like a charm. After a boring day of watching bad t.v. between naps, I'm feeling much better and even did a bit of gardening today. It's amazing what a bit of sleep can do!

What a cool event and lovely garden, lots of prickly plants too like the fabulous Dyckia. It would look great in the tentacled pots, how funny with the kewpie doll head. I like the bright Osteospermum with the Lobelia.

It was a lot of fun spending a nice warm evening in this beautiful garden! I always thought that those tentacled pots cried out to have a head put on them. The Osteospermum with Lobelia is a winning combination!

Cool event and lots of great plants! I love the Teucrium and the Leucodendron. I'd be willing to grow that phormium in a container and protect it over the winter. I think that's my favorite of the bunch.

Peter you have such spectacular variety to choose from because of where you live .. can i say I am green with envy ? LOL ... what is that amazing pink flower with yellow stars in t ?I love agave .. some years Home Depot has them in their garden center .. but it has been a few years now, are you all gobbling them up over there ? LOLThe curly leg planters are too cute ... I would love one so tell these people they have to visit Canada .. specifically Kingston ON ! hahaYou took marvelous pictures and I have drooled enough over my keyboard thank you ! Take careJoy : )

Having gardened in the north (zone 3) before, I feel very fortunate to have landed where we live mostly by accident. That flower is Gompherena 'Pink Zazzle' Agaves seem to be quite a fad right now in this area. They used to mostly come from California but local growers are now starting them here. Next time I see the nice folks at Petula, I'll put in a good word for Kingston! :) Have a great gardening day and do let your keyboard air out a bit.

Weird how gomphrenas are having a bit of a "moment" with these new kinds on the market. 'Balboa' is one of my fav plants this summer. Good for you grabbing the Pearl Bush! I saw it in gallons in Santa Barbara and was this close to grabbing it, but it gets big here so I passed. I can't get used to seeing leucadendrons and petunias cavorting! I like the Phylica arborea a lot -- haven't seen that one around yet.

They keep teasing us with that gomphrena but for some reason, it''s not available in nurseries. The Pearl Bush is destined for life in a pot here so maybe it'll stay smaller Leucadendrons and petunias are a strange but interesting couple.

Wow. That's no ordinary commercial planting! So interesting, and so beautiful. Not being very knowledgeable about exotic plants, I have no idea what many of these plants are, but I can certainly appreciate them.

It's interesting how they put exotics and hardy plants together. Looks great for quite a while until all the little exotics have to come in for the winter. Although in the test garden,they'll leave them out all winter to test their hardiness.

Wow - Tonya and Petula rock! Bummed I wasn't able to make it up there. I'm coming up with Gina (our buyer) for a two-day nursery bus tour this week which will be fun, but I'm TOTALLY game for another blogger event at Petula. Anyone else?

Isn't the planting wonderful. We were there that night also. We know Molly and was really excited when we saw the plantings. We live in the neighborhood and the garden club had done a pretty good job of standard plantings but the new plants selected by Petula were outstanding! We have been back again to see how it is doing. It is going to be interesting to see how things do. The space is a public so there has been a little damage from usage (sitting on and stepping on) but I love to see how these exotics do. If you are in the neighborhood again, definitely check out the plantings outside the soon to open Cascadia Art Museum in Salish Crossing Center. It is center between the ferry ticket booth and train station near the Edmonds Marina. They do not have as many exotics but an excellent planting of unusual good perennials for the area. Even a Chilean Fire Bush! The beds are raised and waist high so you have a good view of the plantings.

"Downtown, where all the lights are bright..." oh right, back to typing. What a wonderful post....are you for hire? :-) Our plants & pots have never looked so good---love the kewpie. We're really enjoying the test garden and seeing what performs well in that space and how the plants patiently endure all the public (& dog!) visitors.

As to the Gomphrena 'Pink Zazzle' availability. It was introduced a couple years ago & commercial growers were slow to get it since it was a later crop (not grown with their main seasonal items). However, interest has been picking up. The plant needs heat to thrive, so you won't see it in April or May in garden centers, folks should look for it in June or later.

Yes, blogger day! We would love to have all of you up, name the date and we'll be there!

Peter, I'm blushing from all of your praise, but I can't take credit for all of Petula's kudos. My partners Molly Malecki & Mike Cole (my husband & partner) are responsible for the lion's share of the immense drive and creativity needed to steer this ship. And none of this would happen without our office staff, Karen & Lisa, and our Oregon Petula contingent, John Neeway.

It was lovely to see you Peter, thank you for indulging my very long comments!

About Me

Why Outlaw Gardener? I like to break the rules of good taste, plant placement, and plant hardiness. Also, I have received periodic "love notes" from the city code enforcement officer telling me that my parking strip plants encroach on the city's right-of-way. When expressing my distress over the latest such notice, I exclaimed to my pal Loree (Danger Garden) "I'm an outlaw gardener!" To which she replied,"That would be a good name for a blog."
My first gardens were in Southeast Alaska (zone 3.)I do miss the beauty and community of small-town Alaska but I don't take for granted for a moment how wonderful it is to garden in zone 8.